Retribution [malexmale]

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

The moment I finished the first summoning, some old lady wanting to know the location of her long-lost son in the mortal realm, and getting a soul out of the whole ordeal, another summoning tingled my spine and I cursed.

I could've sworn most of my coins had disappeared. How in the gods name were these people finding these things?

I teleported from Sydney, Australia in the mortal realm to a dingy alleyway in Inferi, Hades. Inferi was covered in rainfall for about 90% of the year, so like any other normal day, I was soaked instantly the moment I appeared in the alley. I sighed miserably at that, tilting my head back to stare up at the dark cloudy sky as lightning streaked across the darkness. I looked back down through my wet hair, raking a hand through it to locate my summoner.

Hiding curled up with his arms wrapped around his legs that were drawn to his chest, a man sat trembling under the cold rain with a cardboard box opened up above him, not that it was doing him much good. The water pressured the middle of the box heavily and caused it to steadily pour into a puddle in front of the guy. He was a pathetic sight if I've ever seen one.

"You summoned me." I said monotonously. The man yelped in shock and jerked his head up to stare at me in awe.

"It worked," He stammered, "The coin actually worked."

"Yeah? So what's up?" I asked, even though I didn't really need to ask. I reached out with my powers and infiltrated the man's every dream. And oddly enough, being rich, famous, or even warm, wasn't on his list of dreams. The man seemed perfectly fine with being homeless and soaking wet like a kitten trapped in the gutter. However, his only dream was to see that the boy who lived in the next alley over was given a warm bed somewhere, and he was prepared to give me his soul over it.

"This kid," I let the man explain tremulously, "H-He lives in this crate in the next alley over. Last time I saw him, he was just skin and bones and it drives me insane to see him there..."

"You want me to find a way to give him what he needs to survive."

"Yes."

"In exchange for your soul."

"Yes," The man said, confused, "How did you know?" I shrugged.

"I know a lot of things," I answered, then paused to consider his bargain, "All right. That sounds good to me. Any specifications for the kid? And be specific, seriously, otherwise, this whole thing could go downhill." The man nodded rapidly.

"I want him to find a good family, a good home, somewhere safe and warm with food. Please." He begged. I nodded, then paused and snapped my fingers, causing the leaking cardboard box to become a small metal fold-up roof that kept the water out, and a blanket appeared around him. He looked up at me, baffled.

"This is for free because you're not a dick." I replied. The man smiled gratefully. I nodded to him and teleported from the alley to the next one over. Sure enough, the man had been telling the truth. A kid no older than fourteen was sleeping between a dumpster and the grimy wall of a building. He was only wearing an over-sized t-shirt, and judging from the scarring on his legs, the kid had paid a heavy price for what little he had with him, which was only a tattered blanket and a moldy piece of bread.

I approached the kid, but didn't get very far before he leapt to his feet with a dagger in hand, slashing it at my throat, but I caught him by the wrist, twisted the dagger away and shoved him against the wall, which was much easier than it should have been.

Now that the kid was actually standing, he was much smaller than I expected and his bones protruded from his pasty pale skin. His black hair was a choppy mess, like he'd tried to cut it himself with his little dagger, and his blue eyes were heavily ringed in black kohl.